Food processors and blending devices have existed for many years. One example of a blending device is shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,655,834 and 6,979,117, which are incorporated herein in their entirety by this reference.
Food processors and blending machines are being used now more than ever, particularly in the high-volume, commercial beverage industry. People are increasingly becoming aware of the benefits, in terms of taste and quality, of well-processed beverages. Blended fruit smoothies and similar fruit drinks, popular with all types of people ranging from the fitness conscious to the less active, require a food processor or blending machine. Cold beverages, in particular, which utilize fruit (frozen or fresh) and ice to prepare present unique challenges in beverage preparation. An appropriate blending machine will break down the ice, frozen fruit, and other ingredients in attempting to achieve an ideal uniform drink consistency. In addition, food processors or blending machines are ideal for mixing nutritional supplements into beverages while similarly attempting to achieve an ideal uniform drink consistency.
In addition to the recent increase in the popularity of smoothies, food processors and blending machines are being used to produce many new and different beverages. For example, different types of coffees, shakes, dairy drinks, and the like are now commonly served at many different types of retail business locations. Consumers are demanding more diversity and variety in the beverages available at these smoothie and other retail stores. The keys to producing a high quality beverage, irrespective of the specific type of beverage, are quality ingredients and a high quality blending machine that will quickly and efficiently blend the ingredients to produce a drink with uniform consistency.
All blending machines include some type of rotatable blending blade. The blending blade typically moves at relatively high rotational speeds to blend the ingredients. Blending blades typically include a sharpened leading edge that penetrates and cuts the ingredients as the blade rotates. Maintaining sharpness of the leading edge of the blending blade over extended use of the blending machine is often one design objective for blending blades. Increased sharpness of the blending blade usually minimizes the amount of power required to operate the blending machine to blend ingredients.
The blending blade may also have a unique bent shape that improves mixing of the ingredients. The bent shape may change over extended use of the blending machine or in response to blending certain ingredients such as ice or other hard materials.
Blending machines may benefit from improvements in blending blades.